AT&T Announces Massive Deal To Spin Off WarnerMedia And Merge It With Discovery

AT&T has announced a massive deal to combine WarnerMedia's entertainment, sports, and news businesses with Discovery to create what it's calling a "premier, standalone global entertainment" company. AT&T's WarnerMedia and Discovery were previously rivals. The deal also impacts WB's gaming division--here's what we know so far.

Under the terms of the deal, which was announced Monday, AT&T is getting paid $43 billion. Discovery's shareholders will own 29% of the newly formed company.

AT&T said in a press release that the deal will help create shareholder value in a number of ways and that, overall, the new company will reach revenue of $52 billion in 2023. The deal brings together the "strongest leadership teams, content creators, and high-quality series and film libraries in the media business," AT&T said. This deal will also "accelerate" the rush to direct-to-consumer streaming, globally, AT&T said.

AT&T boss John Stankey said AT&T and Discovery have "complementary content strengths" that will only grow further thanks to this deal.

"It will support the fantastic growth and international launch of HBO Max with Discovery's global footprint and create efficiencies which can be re-invested in producing more great content to give consumers what they want," he said.

Discovery boss David Zaslav added, "These assets are better and more valuable together. It is super exciting to combine such historic brands, world class journalism and iconic franchises under one roof and unlock so much value and opportunity."

"With a library of cherished IP, dynamite management teams and global expertise in every market in the world, we believe everyone wins."

What impact, if any, this move will have on WarnerMedia brands like HBO Max, its movie division, and others, remains to be seen. AT&T also owns the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment gaming division, but the press release had no details on what might happen as a result of this move. Keep checking back with GameSpot for the latest.